Ceramic tool



J. E. KEMPER CERAMIC TOOL Filed June 24, 1950 IN V EN TOR.

May 20, 1952 Patented May 20, 1952 ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERAMIC T OOL John E. Kemper, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application June 24, 1950, Serial No. 170,137

4 Claims.

The device of this invention is a hand tool adapted to use in the ceramic art for the repetitious cutting of clay shapes of an ornamental nature, which after being modified by hand working, are fired for glazing and which upon completion constitute one of the elements of a string thereof for personal adornment.

At the present time such articles, which may be of any desired configuration, are either hand shaped by means of special tools for clay working, or they are cut by a die having a cutting head in the form of the article which it is desired to make. The last mentioned of these methods of cutting is most commonly used for it is faster than hand worked tools, but, nevertheless this method is slow and awkward for it is necessary to use a proddle to eject the shape from the head of the die after having been severed from the batch from which it came.

Therefore, as a general premise, itis a prime object of the invention to create a new and improved tool for cutting clay articles having an ornamental shape.

A further object of the invention is the provision in a clay cutting tool of means adapted to the function of severing and releasing ceramic material by mere application of pressure longitudinally thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tool having a clay cutting head of an ornamental nature adapted to sever a like-shaped article from a batch of clay and incorporating a proddle to evacuate the article from the cutting head.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a simple, low cost, easily worked tool for clay cutting which is adapted with equal facility to receive and functionally support single ones of a variety of clay cutting die heads.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a tool for clay cutting having means to limit the positional adjustment of a die head. thereon and including probing means adapted to eject material from within the die head.

An advantage of the invention resides in the provision of a series of stepped tool shanks adapted to receive and retain selected die cut-, ting heads thereon.

A still further advantage of the invention resides in the provision in a single tool of a body adapted to serve as a holder for a plural number of dissimilar cutting dies without alteration of the body of the tool.

Other objects, features and advantages thereofmay be noted from the accompanying draw- 2 ing, the detailed description and the subjoined claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side-elevational view of the ceramic tool of this invention showing a cut ceramic clay artcile ejected from 'the cutting die; and,

Figure 2 is a top-plan view of the tool.

Figure 3 is an elevational view of the tool without the cutting die in functional position thereon.

Figure 4 is principally a longitudinal sectional view of the body of the tool in which the proddle is shown in elevation.

Figures 5 and 6 are transverse sectional views taken on lines 5'5 and 6-6, respectively, in Figure 4.

Figure 7 is a view mostly in elevation showing one of the cutting dies adapted to be used in conjunction with the tool as shown in Figure3; and,

Figures 8, 9, 10, and 11 respectively are views showing certain of an indeterminate number of die shapes which can be employed in conjunction with the tool. Within this group of figures, Figure 8 is a View taken along line 8-8 Figure 7 in double scale forthe sake of better illustration, and the remaining figures are taken from the same relative position with respect to other die shapes, however, in each thereof it is to be noted that the dies are formed with a tubular shank adapted to slip-fit upon the body of the tool.

Figure 12 is a view showing another form of construction in which the proddle of the tool is formed without a removable tip and which is retained in the body of the tool by means of lugs extruded from the sides thereof.

Figure 13 is a detail showing the proddle extended from the body of the tool, and,

Figure 14 is a bottom-plan view taken along line I l-l4, Figure 13, showing the construction.

In the drawing the numeral 2 indicates the ceramic tool of this invention, in which 4 is the body thereof, 6 is the die and 8 is the proddle thereof. a

The part 4 of the tool is formed as an elongated tubular element having a uniformly cylindrical body portion l0 and a series of sub-cylindrical body portions [2, l3 and Id. The interior of the body of the tool is formed with longitudinally aligned bores l6 and [8 having difierent diameters so that there exists an annular step 20 at the point of intersection thereof. A spring 22 is;

adapted-to stand within the bore l6 upon the step 20 to receive and encircle the body 8a of the proddle extending therethrough and through the smaller bore I8 which is of a diameter but slightly greater than the part 8a so as to create a suflicient degree of working tolerance therebetween for relative reciprocation motion.

The body 8a of the proddle is formed with a spheroidal capping 24 upon which finger pressure may be applied for depression thereof while the under-side of the capping forms an abutting surface for the other of the ends of the spring 22. The lower end of the element 8a is provided with a threaded terminus 26 adapted to threadedly receive a nib 28 having a blunt end 28a for pressure contacting the ceramic clay articles 30 as shown in Figure 1. The upper end of the nib is of such diameter with respect to the diameter of the sub-cylindrical portion II as to be in abutment therewith and hence serves as a stop against lifting pressure exerted upon the body of the proddle by the spring 22.

Aligned intersection of the cylindrical body portion In with the sub-cylindrical body portion l2 and intersection of each of the sub-cylindrical body portions [2, l3 and H with one another creates a plural number of shoulders 32, 33 and 34 each having slightly reduced transverse sections, and these shoulders are adapted to serve as abutments or stops for the tubular shanks 36 of each of the clay cutting dies 6, and from which it will be seen that dies having shanks of a diameter of certain of the portions l2, l3 or M may be slidably positioned upon the tool for functional use, and that a die having a cutting edge 60!. of the diameter of the shank, see Figure 11, may be made in various sizes at a minimum cost for the reason that this form of die is simply circular in form and hence will cut a circular or disc-like clay article 30. In other shaped dies such as illustrated in Figure 8, the one end of the tubular portion is compressed to obtain the desired outline of the die without disturbing the shank portion thereof, so that a die having a cutting edge of the shape shown therein may be used as readily as the form shown in Figure 11. In Figures 9 and I show still other forms of die cutting edge, without limitation thereto, which because of the tubular nature of the shanks 36 thereof are also adapted to use in combination with the tool of this invention.

The tool is used by slipping the shank 36 of a selected die upon the sub-cylindrical surface I 2, [3 or [4 which is best adapted to receive it in abutment with a related shoulder, and then manually forcing the cutting edge lid of the die through the mass 30a (dotted lines only) of the batch of clay being worked, withdrawing the die therefrom and then depressing the proddle 8 to cause the surface 28a of the nib 28 to bear upon and elect the article 30 from therewithin substantially as shown in Figure 1.

Manual release of the capping 24 enables the spring 22 to withdraw the nib 28 to within the die for clearance thereof fora next operation.

In Figures 12, 13' and 14 I show a slightly modified form of the construction previously described. As here shown the-proddle 8 is'formed without a detachable nib 28'which as shown and described in connection with Figures 1-6, is adapted to retain the proddle in the body 4 of the tool, however, in the modified form Of the construction the proddle is die struck at 40 adjacent the lower end of thebody 4 when in spring retracted position so as to cause metal to be extruded to form ears 42 in abutment with the lower end of the body aforementioned. From the standpoint of function, the two forms of the invention are identical, however, the latter form of construction is more simple and. tends to lower costs and thus forms a very real consideration with many users.

Use of the tool herein shown and described is simple, positive and unvarying in action. It enables the most unskilled person to repetitiously create clay articles 30 of unvarying uniformity so that rework thereof is quite unnecessary. It is also to be noted that it is only necessary to manually slip off the one die and to slip on another to change from production of one form of article 39 to another, and that this versatility of the tool is one of the controlling factors on lowering costs of production of articles of the character contemplated herein.

Having thus described my invention in its presently preferred form, that which I believe to be patentable and for which I seek Letters Patent, is as follows.

I claim:

1. A ceramic clay working tool comprising a a relatively long cylindrical body formed With a plural number of stepped annular sections of reduced diameter terminating in shoulders disposed along a portion of the length of said cylindrical body, a longitudinally disposed bore formed in said cylindrical body having sections of different diameter whereby an annular lip is formed at the point of intersection thereof, an extensile spring in said bore seated upon said annular lip, a proddle extending through said bore including said spring, a capping integral with and overhanging the shaft of the proddle forming an abutting surface for one of the ends of said spring, a nib in detachable threaded union with the other of the ends of the proddle and in abutment with the lower end of the body of the tool, and a die having a tubular shank adapted to slidably fit upon one of certain of said stepped annular sections in abutment. with a related shoulder and in which the cutting edge of the die forms a skirt enclosing said nib, said spring and said annular lip being resistant of moving the nib of the proddle exteriorly of the cutting edge of said die and said spring and said capping being adapted to effect retraction of the nib of the proddle within the cutting edge of said die.

2. The combination in a die having a cutting end and a tubular shank oppositely disposed to said cutting end, of a holder for said die, said holder being formed with a relatively long cylindrical body having a plural number of annular shoulders forming stops disposed along a portion of the length thereof, said body being formed with a medial, longitudinally disposed bore of differentiated diametrical section whereby an annular lip is formed at the point of differentiated section, a proddle extending through said bore, an extensile spring seated upon said annular lip and around a portion of the length of said proddle, a nib in threaded union with one of the ends of the proddle in abutment with an end of the body of the die holder and a capping upon the other of the ends of the proddle in abutment with the outer end of said spring, said annular lip being resistant of compression of said spring and said nib being resistant of retraction of the proddle within the bore of the holder under pressure of said spring.

3. In a ceramic clay work tool having a body formed with exterior annular steps of different diametrical value upon certain of which a die having a tubular neck is adapted to b functionally positioned and having a proddle for expulsion of clay articles from within said die, extruded means associated with said proddle adapted to limit lineal movement thereof in one direction.

4. In a ceramic day work tool having a body formed with exterior annular steps of different diametrical value upon one of which steps a die having a tubular neck is adapted to be function- 10 ally positioned and having a proddle operable longitudinally thereof, said proddle having extruded ears adjacent its lower end adapted to limit movement thereof with respect to said body.

JOHN E. KEMPER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number UNITED STATES PATENTS 

